Rji-pivot-interviews

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INTERVIEW NOTES

• Adams Powell and Mary Ruddy
• Peggy Holman and Clark Bell
• Tom Grubisich and Al Stavitsky

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?

REMINDER: Find your interview pair HERE.

Through experience organizing other result-oriented gatherings, we’ve found that asking participants to conduct a pre-convening conversation with one other colleague is an effective way to jump-start collaboration and project-based thinking. Here’s how it works:

• At the very bottom of this note, you’ll find information about you, and about your “convening partner.” It should include basic contact information, including a phone number and some copy-and-paste links to background information and a photo.
• Please reach out to your discussion partner immediately by email and, by phone during business hours. Don’t wait for the other person to take the lead.
• Arrange a time when you can talk for 15-45 minutes on the phone. Agree that at least one of you will take notes of your conversation, and that you will email a short summary of what you discussed to densmorew@rjionline.org right after the call.
• We’ll post your report to this address: http://tinyurl.com/rji-pivot-talks . . . .
• Please read the other conversations at that address before your arrival at the Hotel Lincoln.

WHAT SHOULD WE DISCUSS?

There is no specific assignment for the contents of your discussion. Certainly you’ll want to learn about each other, as you would in any social introduction. And that’s important, because we want as much as possible for all of us to know the breadth of talent, expertise and diversity convening for “Pivot Point.” RJI’s intention is that we will form the start of a series of projects, and that some of us will continue to work with each other after we gather. So use this call in part to “get to know each other.”

As you think about the conversation you want to have, you my wish to refer to RJI Executive Director Randy Picht’s invitation:
http://newshare.com/rji/invite.pdf

As well as the questions posed in our Convening Purpose two-pager:
http://newshare.com/rji/pivotpoint.pdf

Here are some additional questions you might consider:

• What are you most passionate about, professionally?
• How best can we advance the values, principles and purposes of journalism in support of participatory democracy?
• What are the best-possible outcomes we might strive to achieve at Pivot Point?
• What vital skills, experience, expertise or perspective will achieve those outcomes?

MONDAY EVENING LOGISTICS -- METS AT CUBS -- or DINNER?

Your datebook should have us conveing at 9 a.m. on Tues., June 26 at the Hotel Lincoln-- 1816 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL / 312-254-4701 MAP/DIRECTIONS. Those of you staying at the hotel, should have received by now information from Jeffrey Beeson of RJI about your room reservation at the hotel. If not, please call Jeffrey at 573-882-7303  -- beeson@rjionline.org

However, many of us are arriving on Monday. If you are getting in early enough to do so, and are a baseball fan, we^Yre organizing a trip to Wrigley Field to watch the New York Mets play the Chicago Cubs. The game starts at 7:05 p.m., and we^Yll leave from the hotel at 6:00 p.m. Email Randy at pichtr@rjionline.org **not later than Wednesday, June 20** if you want to be part of the Mets-Cubs group as RJI's guest.

If you are not a baseball fan or just want a more mellow evening after travel, a second group will convene with Bill Densmore for light dinner at the Hotel Lincoln restaurant -- Perennial Virant (1800 North Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60614 | T 312 981 7070) --  also at 6 p.m.  We'll hold the table for a second seating at 7:30 p.m. for later arrivals. Email your preferences for dinner if you like, to densmorew@rjionline.org

BROWSING/READING

Please do allocate a little time before arrival to review our reading list:

  Also linked from that page are posted comments from many of us.   The point is not to assign exhaustive reading, but to ask that you at least get an overview of some of the tops on the minds of convenors and participants.  Our goal is not to set the topics for our agenda but simply to get us all thinking within the same domain range.

WHAT WE'RE ABOUT

With so much talent and experience in the room, we don^Yt presume to know what we^Yll agree to focus on -- or achieve. We've said one possible goal is to consider a common purpose, vocabulary, framework and platforms to drive change for the news industry (broadly defined) and its stakeholders, including citizens in a democracy. 

Generally we may elect to focus on new paradigms for "story" beyond the article. We could seek methods for monetizing news discovery, personalization, curation and presentation. We'll ask the question: "What is it that the nation's news organizations can do, working collaboratively, with the resources they have, that is impossible for companies like Google to do by themselves?"

We could to identify as many as 10 projects which RJI, or others, can then help manage and advance. They might focus on creating platforms and networks which finance and deliver trustworthy, compelling, actional journalism and information that sustains communities -- geographic and topical.

See you on Monday and Tuesday! 

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Bill Densmore, Randy Picht, Susan Leddick, Chuck Peters, Jeffrey Beeeson and the Pivot Point team
Reynolds Journalism Institute
mobile: 617-448-6600 / densmorew@rjionline.org 

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